为什么英国人打喷嚏时要说“Bless you”_英美文化

为什么英国人打喷嚏时要说“Bless you”

Many people have become accustomed to saying "bless you" or "gesundheit" when someone sneezes. No one says anything when someone coughs, blows their nose or burps, so why do sneezes get special treatment? What do those phrases actually mean, anyway?

当有人打喷嚏时，很多人习惯说“bless you”或“gesundheit”。但当有人咳嗽、擤鼻涕或打嗝时，人们往往不会说什么。那么为什么打喷嚏会得到特别关注呢?这些短语实际上又是什么意思呢?

Wishing someone well after they sneeze probably originated thousands of years ago. The Romans would say "Jupiter preserve you" or "Salve," which meant "good health to you," and the Greeks would wish each other "long life." The phrase "God bless you" is attributed to Pope Gregory the Great, who uttered it in the sixth century during a bubonic plague epidemic (sneezing is an obvious symptom of one form of the plague).

在有人打喷嚏时祝愿他们安好，这一习俗起源于几千年前。罗马人会说“木星保佑你”或“安慰”，意思是“祝你身体健康”。希腊人则会互相祝愿“长寿”。人们普遍认为“God bless you”这一短语起源于六世纪黑死病泛滥时期，出自罗马教皇格雷戈里之口。(打喷嚏是这种瘟疫的一种明显征兆)。

The exchangeable term "gesundheit" comes from Germany, and it literally means "health." The idea is that a sneeze typically precedes illness. It entered the English language in the early part of the 20th century, brought to the United States by German-speaking immigrants.